


adventure

by akingnotaprincess



Category: Doctor Who, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Age Difference, Getting Together, M/M, Trapped In A Closet, sometimes companions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:42:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28101861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akingnotaprincess/pseuds/akingnotaprincess
Summary: It was a normal day only a few hours ago.
Relationships: Leonard "Bones" McCoy & Thirteenth Doctor, Pavel Chekov & Thirteenth Doctor, Pavel Chekov/Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12
Collections: Star Trek Holidays 2020





	adventure

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rubynye](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rubynye/gifts).



"Okay, now," The Doctor wheeled around to face him, her long pale coat catching the wind and whipping around to her front. She leaned forward towards him like she was telling him a secret. "Now, here's the plan." She paused, looked at him, to the building, and back to him. "The plan is that there is no plan."

Pavel's expression doesn't shift. He is used to this—it seems to happen far too often with the Doctor.

It was a normal day only a few hours ago. Today was his first day off in nearly six months. He hadn't wanted to take it at all, but the Captain made it an order that he take three days off at the bare minimum. Pavel had been planning to spend the three days locked in his room studying astral charts, recording videos to his family back on Earth, and catching up on a novel that he'd been trying to get through for over a year. Nice and easy or memorable.

Until a breeze kicked up out of nowhere in his room and then that low whooshing groan penetrated his ears—a sound he hadn't heard in nearly three months. He couldn't help but smile and hop off his bed before the TARDIS finishes materializing.

The friendly face of a woman with short blonde hair, multiple earrings in one ear, and dark impressionable eyes that quickly found him after roaming around the room for a second. "Pavel!" the Doctor had shouted with enthusiasm and joy—like she hadn't seen him in years (which for the Doctor could very well be true). "Care for a quick go? I still owe you that trip to have a chat with Copernicus."

Instead of Renaissance Poland, here he was in Okinawa, Japan on the same day, trying to hatch a plan to infiltrate the Daystrom Institute. 

"Can't you use your psychic paper?" he inquired. They had used the psychic paper plenty of times in the past. It was a badge that had whatever name of authority that the person who the psychic paper was being flashed at respected or was frightened of—someone who was more likely to let them through where they needed to go.

The Doctor's mouth made the shape of an 'O', but no sound came out. She padded herself down and turned out her pockets. "Must have left it back in the TARDIS. We'll have to sneak in the old fashioned way." She turned her head to the front of the Daystrom Institute for a brief second. "Last time I was here there was a secret entrance on the west side. Granted, that was about fifty years from now, but—"

"Doctor?" Someone with a southern drawl was approaching from behind the Doctor Who. Pavel knew that voice. The user of that voice was someone he'd had a crush on for the last few years. The voice of a man who only two weeks ago he had kissed at the Captain's wild birthday party. Leonard was jogging and stopped before the Doctor, his eyes only for her. "Doctor, what are you doing here?"

"Bones!" she cried out in a manner similar to how she greeted Pavel. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders—unaware how he didn't return the hug and that he clearly felt awkward because his body tensed.

"Please don't call me Bones," he sighed with exasperation, gently pushing her away. 

"Captain Kirk calls you Bones. I like Bones. Bones is such a good nickname for you. In fact it's an _excellent_ nickname for you, _Bones_."

Leonard countered, "And only Jim can call me that." It was then that he peered over the Doctor's shoulder and his face went slack. "Pasha? What are you doing here?" He stepped aside and stood in front of him—only a few feet apart. Color filled Pavel's cheeks when Leonard called him by _his_ nickname. Also he couldn't ignore the way that Leonard raked his eyes over his body. Pavel tried to not let his mind wander. It's innocent, he thought. There's no way Leonard returned his feelings. They'd become good friends over the past year. 

"Oh dear, this is a bit awkward," the Doctor chuckled nervously, running a hand through her hair and looking back and forth between them. "This has rarely happened. In fact it's never happened. Wait," she holds up an index finger into the air. Pavel can see the gears turning in the Doctor's head. "Hang on, it has happened before. Wait. Yes. No? Yes. No? Wait." She bit her lower lip and hummed a jolly little tune, thinking. "Maybe. Yes that's right. I'll say maybe. This has _maybe_ never happened before. Well outside of the occasional world ending time paradox. Those are always uncomfortable. Meeting yourself, but not yourself? Wait a tick, _Pasha_?" The Doctor looks back and forth between them. "You can call him Pasha, but I can't call you Bones? Just how close are you two?"

"We serve together," Pavel explained. "On the Enterprise. Lieutenant Commander McCoy is the Chief Medical Officer. He's a wonderful doctor— very respected. One of the best doctors in Starfleet. We're lucky to have him."

"Interesting," the Doctor says the word by expanding the "in" so it takes longer to say than it should. "Very interesting." She brushed her windswept hair out of her face. "I should have put two and two together— it was very silly of me not to realize that you are both from the same time. I mean the uniforms alone should have given me a clue. Starfleet keeps that style until—"

"Doctor," Leonard said with irritation dripping in his voice. "What are you doing here? This a private, invitation only conference. Nothing," he gestured with his hand like he was shooing away a fly. "Crazy, nothing threatening time and space. It's a normal boring conference that I happen to be giving a lecture on Andorian immunology later today."

"Glad we caught you then. See, me and our mutual friend here need to get into that conference to smoke out a Slitheen and don't have a way to get in."

"Why don't you use your psychic paper?" Leonard asked.

Pavel supplied, "She left it in the TARDIS," and ignored the glare from the Doctor. 

"Please, Bones," she whined, giving Leonard doe eyes. "Can you please get us in so a rogue Slitheen doesn't kill and jump into the skin of the head of Universitätsspital Zürich?"

Leonard looked between the Doctor and Pavel, his dark eyes finally settling on Pavel. After several beats, Leonard sighed and scrubbed his face. "Fine. What do you need to do?"

Everything went downhill very, very, _very_ fast. Leonard had been able to get them in the conference with surprising ease. The Doctor had gone on a rant about security protocol for far too long. She only stopped because her detector had gone off—the gadget to sniff out where the Sliheen was hiding. The positive was that they had found the alien and they weren't wearing the skin of the head of one of the top hospitals in the world like it was a zentai. Which meant that they were alive and hopefully safe. The negative that infuriated the Doctor was that the **Slitheen** had murdered one of his close secturaties, a woman of only twenty-one. The Doctor had never been one to be subtle. A dramatic scene was made, one that no one could ignore or forget. The **Slitheen** decided to reveal itself. Everyone in the large auditorium quickly scattered, leaving Pavel, Leonard, and the Doctor alone with the monstrous green alien. It belonged to the Blathereen family— a faction the Doctor said she hadn't seen since Justicia Alpha. There was a back and forth. After the Slitheen revealed their entire master plan, it began to chase after the three of them. The Doctor ordered for all of them to split up. Leonard had taken his hand and pulled him along down a corridor and shoved him into a janitorial closet that was so small that they were chest to chest.

"So, Pasha," Leonard said in a hushed tone, breaking the silence. "How did you meet the Doctor?"

"I helped her with a computer virus that the Neeldros coded into all of Starfleet's most used programs that had been set to deploy a minute before midnight the day I met her. It would have been able to control everyone's minds and bodies, effectively turning all of Starfleet into walking zombies—then the Neeldros would be able to use their access and power to eventually control the Federation. I had noticed something was wrong with a program and went to investigate. She found me in one of the computer labs in the main building on campus and—what would you say, whooshed—me into action. And you?"

"Jim had gotten himself into another fight at a bar. I was fixing him up in the bathroom when a woman burst in on us asking where the nearest Plutonian embassy was. We told her that there was no Plutonian embassy, and that Pluto was not colonized. She had a bit of a fit, muttering to herself. The Doctor dragged both of us around San Francisco on an adventure for the rest of the night and half of the next day. Nearly failed an exam because I was so exhausted."

Pavel's green eyes widened. "The Captain knows about her?"

Leonard chuckled. "Oh yeah, they know each other. They don't see eye to eye on several topics. When those two are in the same room it is not a pretty sight. They don't get physical, but I have to reign Jim in from doing something brash."

"I would have thought they would have gotten along well, and that it would be _you_ and the Doctor not seeing eye to eye."

Leonard raised an eyebrow in question, but didn't say a word.

"You are more…" Pavel's thought about what the correct word in English would be. "You are more… inflexible than the Captain. He and the Doctor are both… easily able to go with the flow compared to you."

Leonard hmpfs. "That's part of why I don't like traveling with her. I would rather keep my head than risk it on some ridiculous exploit that has nothing to do with me or our five year mission. It sounds selfish when I say it out loud." He shrugs as best as he can in the cramped space. "I need to be around for the crew. I _need_ to be around for Jo. I take enough risks being in Starfleet. I can't put myself in more danger."

They lap into silence—a silence that bothered Pavel and made him feel uncomfortable. The two of them had skirted around to discuss what happened at the party. The kiss was unexpected and he didn't know what had come over him to grasp the back of Leonard's head—digging his pale fingers into his brown hair, pulling him down into a brief kiss that was rather embarrassingly amauter. 

"Lyonya, I'm sorry."

Leonard looked down at him, puzzled. "What could you be sorry about?"

There's a spot on the floor that seemed rather interesting enough to stare at. "For kissing you. It wasn't right. You were drunk and I took advantage of you in the heat of the moment. I understand if you would like to not be friends anymore. I do want you to know that— that I care for you, romantically. I have for years but I didn't want to ruin what we already had. Except it seems that I've done that anyway."

"Pavel." A couple beats passed. " _Pasha."_

He sighed and met Leonard's dark eyes. Pavel thought it was odd how he didn't seem furious.

"Pasha… Damnit," Leonard cursed. "I've never been good at this kind of thing." He took a deep breath and started over. "I wasn't drunk at all. I kissed you back because I wanted to. I've wanted to for a few months. It's just that I can think of a million reasons not to pursue you."

Pavel felt his stomach drop. "Like?"

"I'm older than you. There's fourteen years between us."

"So? We are both of the age of legal consent. We get along. We like the same things. I enjoy being _with you."_

"I've known you since you were seventeen."

"I'm not seventeen anymore, Lyonya. I haven't been for four years. Is age the only reason why you are hesitant?" Pavel waited for his friend to respond. He nodded and Pavel continued, "That's stupid. Plenty of people have been in thriving relationships with an age gap. There's nothing wrong with it. Would people take a second glance at us? Maybe. I don't care about them. I care about you. I don't want to lose you," he confessed. 

A tense silence filled the air that made Pavel uncomfortable. He shifted as well as he could in the cramped space.

"Do you—" Leonard sighed in frustration. "Do you want to give this a shot?"

"Do you mean giving this shot as in dating?" After a nod, Pavel spoke with confidence, "Yes, Lyonya."

Leonard awkwardly moved his arms in the small space and cupped Pavel's face. Both of them move at the same time— their lips brush against the others.

Light flooded the closet as the door was flung open. "Oh! There you two are!" The Doctor had lost her coat since they parted. The right side of her hair was sticking straight up into the air and there was something like grease covering her hands. She shoved objects into their hands. "C'mon, I need your help. I think I have them cornered."

" _Think?_ " the two men said together.

"Yeah, think. Come on!"

Everything was tidied up by the end of the day. No more Sliltheen. The conference was postponed a few days in a different location nearby since repairs and remodeling needed to be done because of all the damage from the Sliltheen.

"That was fun!"

Leonard gave the Doctor a sideways glare. " _Fun?_ You call that fun?"

"Well yeah," she replied, hurrying her steps and twirling around to face Leonard to talk and walk backwards at the same time. "I wasn't bored at all. Did a bit of running. Saving the world. Got to see the both of you at the same time. Seriously, how did I not put two and two together that you knew each other? Anyway, must be going. Would you like to come with us, Bones?"

"I need to go back to my hotel and make some calls. I need to talk to Pavel before you go. _Alone_."

"Ah, er, okay then. I'll just be over here admiring the view of the architecture."

Once the Doctor was far enough away out of earshot, Pavel grasped one of Leonard's hands and pulled him closer. "I'm sorry that your lecture has been delayed. I know you've been working hard on the research."

Leonard shrugged noncommittally. "Maybe it's fate or whatever horseshit that Scotty prattles on about when he's drinking too much of that Aldebaran whiskey. If the Doctor hadn't picked you up and took you here then maybe we wouldn't have admitted our feelings."

Pavel repeated the word 'fate' in his native tongue. "Perhaps it is. Or it is simply coincidence."

"That sounds better."

"Whatever you want to call it, I am grateful. I would not have said anything. 

They stared at each other for a long moment—Leonard's eyes studying Pavel's face— taking in every little micro-expression which made him blush under the scrutiny. Leonard gripped the back of Pavel's neck, and Pavel licked his lips and tilted his head to the side—ready to slot his lips with Leonard's.

"I love a good get together." Doctor interrupted a moment, popping up in-between them. "Oh," she realized something. " _Oh_." Sheepishly she steps back, giving them room. "Ah, I guess," she cleared her throat. "I'll just go. Leave you to it. Whatever _it_ is." 

Leonard chuckled. "It was nice to see you again, Doctor."

Pavel nodded in agreement. "Remember you can pick me up anytime."

"But not me," Leonard interjected. "I have enough trouble with Jim nowadays."

The Doctor smiled, a hint of sadness showing in the corners of her mouth and in her eyes. "My fam's like that. Always keep me on my toes." She stood up on her tiptoes for a second. "Best be off then. Coming, Pavel?"

"Yes, in a minute!" he responded, calling as she retreated to the TARDIS. 

"We'll talk when you get back, yes?"

"Looking forward to it." 

Pavel gently kissed Leonard's cheek and squeezed Leonard's hand before turning to join the Doctor in the TARDIS. Quickly and with a jolt they're flying again. 

"You could tag along for a bit longer," she offered. "Always easy to pop you back soon after we left your room. Or, _or,"_ she rounds the console to stand next to him. _"Or_ you could help me out with my upgrades on the TARDIS. I've been needing to do it for ages, but it requires an extra pair of hands that I don't have. Two hearts, yes, but not two hands. You're fantastic with engineering. You're the perfect person to be my assistant." The Doctor rests her elbows on the console, careful not to touch any important buttons or levers that would cause them to careen to a destination unknown or something worse than Pavel could even imagine. "Plus I know she'd love it."

As if to agree, the walls changed colors from a deep purple to a shade of yellow that matched his Starfleet uniform. 

They spend a few hours working on the upgrades—pop music filling the air, the occasional spark with the Doctor scolding the time machine, and catching each other up on their lives. 

When they parted the Doctor seemed distant even though she was standing outside of the open door of the TARDIS only a few feet away. "Sure you don't want to come along? You could meet my fam if you'd like." She had spoken of her _fam_ many times. Graham, Ryan, and Yaz. They meant more to her that words could express. They were her _everything_. However, even they had to go back home every so often. That's when the Doctor would visit people like him so she wouldn't be lonely. Pavel was fine with that—no one deserved to be lonely. 

"No thank you. I would love to meet them someday," he said with sincerity. "Not today. I've had enough adventure for now. You can always come back to see me. Anytime."

The Doctor broke into a smile and her entire demeanor changed. "Until then." She rushed forward and hugged him—burying her head in his neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist—returning the hug. They stayed there for a few moments before the Doctor pulled back. "Until then." She practically skipped into her TARDIS and a minute later the machine was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a random note, but companions have met each other before outside the odd multiple doctors episodes. The Doctor can have shitty memory sometimes.


End file.
